In Possession of a Shadow
by hannahkannao
Summary: In which Namatame's Shadow turns out to be more powerful than anyone anticipated. (Lotsa Kannao, Souyo, and Yukichie to be found!)
1. Chapter 1

So! This is a strange one. I was watching... something, I don't remember what it was, when I thought, "Hey, what if Namatame's Shadow didn't just control the way people moved, but just outright possessed them?" And that's how this AU came about.

Also, I'm using the plural of senpai as just senpai because I don't want to think about how that works and it'll probably end up getting complicated if I spend too much time on it. (And there's not really a difference between singular and plural words in Japanese so does it matter? I don't know)

There are going to be seven chapters (I've planned them all out!) And I'm writing chapters two and seven at the same time while I haven't started on any of the others.

* * *

So this was it. This was all that they had fought for. This was the end of the murders, the end of people being shoved inside TVs, possibly even the end of the Midnight Channel itself.

But as the eight of them ran inside the dungeon, they couldn't think about what they'd been through, or how far they'd come, or what they'd had to do, had to face in order to get to where they were. Right now, it was just Nanako and Namatame. Nothing else mattered.

"Okay!" Yu said, still sounding like the cool and collected leader he always was, despite the circumstances. "This is going to be the day we stop Namatame and get Nanako out of here. I know it." He smiled slightly. Of course he did. They were getting his surrogate sister – everyone's surrogate sister – back home safe, and stopping this madness once and for all. "We're sticking with the same teams as yesterday. I think that seemed to work well." He turned to Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko with a grin. "Let's do this."

The other three second-years nodded enthusiastically as they followed Yu up to the higher floors of the dungeon, talking about what was most likely a battle strategy the whole way up. They were running, their energy renewed for maybe the last round of this whole cycle of saving people.

Kanji hadn't been on the front lines of a fight since the last dungeon – that time, he _really_ would have been pissed if Yu hadn't let him go. Yu knew that, of course. He'd just smiled knowingly and without Kanji even telling him what was up, let him come along for the ride. The guy seemed to know just about everything. Sure, Kanji had been slightly... er, _irrational_ last time, but Yu looked like he knew exactly why and he'd worked with that, and everything had turned out okay.

This time, it was okay that Kanji wasn't ascending the floors of the dungeon like everyone else. It was Nanako up there at the top, after all. Every choice was Yu's to make, and if Kanji wasn't the right person to get Nanako out as soon as possible, then so be it. He was just fine down here.

Rise had already summoned Himiko, and the Persona's visor covered her eyes as she pursed her lips in concentration. She probably wanted to be by Yu's side, rather than staying down here, but she had gotten accustomed to her support role pretty well, and by now didn't really mind staying back.

Teddie stayed energetic as always, despite not actually being able to do much. Had Teddie done anything since Rise took his place back after she fought her Shadow? Kanji didn't remember a time when Yu had told him to come and be on the front lines of the fight, but Teddie was probably okay with that. But he still looked somewhat nervous, which was definitely normal for the moment, what with Nanako being up on the top floor. He was probably just as stressed as everyone else.

"Kanji-kun? May I ask you a question for clarification?"

"What?" Kanji whirled around to see Naoto looking right up at him, a puzzled look on her face. "Yeah, what's up?"

"What exactly happens on the lower floors?" Naoto asked, "I've been ascending the dungeon with Yu-senpai and the others until yesterday, and nothing much went on while I was down here. Is that a normal occurrence?" Right. Kanji still wasn't used to seeing her down here. Yu had initially taken her up through the floors of the dungeon, and they had talked strategy nonstop for maybe three days before she got sent down with the rest of them. Yosuke ended up taking her place, and Kanji wasn't sure in what universe that was a good idea.

"Yeah, usually." Kanji shrugged. "Sorry if you were expecting more than just waitin' around."

"It's all right," Naoto said, "What do you usually do in these circumstances?"

"I dunno," Kanji said, "Pretty much just relaxin' and not really doing much."

"Oh." Naoto was looking down at the ground, probably deep in thought. And why wouldn't she be? Everyone was, right now at least. "Kanji-kun?"

"Yo?"

"Are the others going to get Nanako-chan back? From Namatame?"

"Yeah. I mean, we've saved everyone else who's gotten thrown in here. Nanako ain't gonna be any different."

"You're right. Our senpai seem very capable, at least from what I know of them. This has just taken a few days."

"That's what happens every time."

"The dungeons are quite large; it would take a lot of luck and skill to ascend to the top of one as quickly as I expected." Naoto turned to look at Kanji again. "I was only inside the TV world for maybe four or five days. How did your team manage to get through my Shadow's dungeon that fast?"

"You seriously don't know?" Rise grinned from under Himiko's visor. "For an ace detective, I'm surprised you haven't noticed by now, Naoto-kun!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Naoto said.

Rise just giggled. "I'm sure you'll find out eventually!" Kanji could practically see her wink, even though her eyes were covered.

"Rise-chan!" Teddie said, "How's Sensei doing? Have they found that grizzly yet?"

"Don't distract her, bear!" Kanji said, punching him in the shoulder.

"Kanji! That wasn't beary nice!"

"Yeah, well, Nanako-chan's life kinda depends on Rise being able to get a handle on the situation!"

Teddie sighed. "I guess you're right." He slumped down and sat against the wall. After a few seconds of being glum, his eyes brightened. "Wait a second! It can be a party, now that Nao-chan's here!"

"What?" Naoto asked, "I mean, I'm not a very social person, I've never very much enjoyed parties."

"I didn't mean it literally, silly bear!" Teddie said, "I just thought that we could have a little fun down here!"

"Guys!" Rise said, "They've found Namatame's Shadow!"

"That was fast," Kanji said, "Now we just have to wait for them to take it out."

"It's got a weakness," Rise said, "It won't be very long." She put her hands to her temples, fierce in concentration on a Shadow no one else on the lower floors could see. Kanji wondered what Namatame's Shadow looked like. Did it look remotely like him, or was it a different beast entirely? He wouldn't ever really know, but it was interesting to think about.

"Yes!" Teddie shouted, "Go Sensei!"

"Y'know they can't hear you, right?"

Kanji asked.

"That doesn't matter!" Teddie said, "It's the thought that counts!"

"Rise, do things look well for everyone else?" Naoto asked.

"Yeah, it looks pretty good!" Rise said, "There isn't really going to be a problem here!"

"I smell a rat," Kanji said, "Namatame threw us all into the TV, it just seems too easy for us to just run in there and kick his ass."

"It really does," Naoto said, "If Namatame's behind all this, he must have some sort of supernatural influence over this world. He has to try to use his power here, if he wants to take us out at all."

"Or maybe we're just gettin' cocky," Kanji said, "Maybe this ain't easy at all."

"Guys, shut up!" Rise said, "We're not going to get ahead and save Nanako if we don't believe we can do it!"

"Yeah!" Teddie said, "We need to think positive!"

"We also need to take a realistic approach to this," Naoto said, "Nothing good ever comes out of blindly rushing into things."

"Yeah, I know," Rise said, "But Naoto-kun, I know you haven't been here very long, but I know we can do this, and Nanako's going to be back home in no time. It's just like all the other Shadows. We know the drill."

"But that's what Naoto was gettin' at earlier!" Kanji said, "This ain't like all the other frickin' Shadows! Namatame's gonna bypass the bullshit here. He knows exactly what he's doing if he knows enough about the TV world to throw us all in!"

"Don't fight, you guys!" Teddie stood up and pouted. "That isn't going to help anything!"

"Yes, you're right." Naoto sighed. "We need to let Rise concentrate on what Namatame's Shadow is doing."

They all stayed silent while Rise worked on scanning the top floor. The faint buzzing noise from Himiko's scanner was the only sound for a while.

About two minutes later, no one had moved. They couldn't afford to distract Rise now. Over the course of the battle, her mouth had gone from a wide grin to a grimace and everything in between.

"God, Yosuke's being such an idiot." Rise giggled. "I tried to tell him not to use that spell, but he wouldn't hear it from me and now he's complaining again-!" The smile on her face quickly turned to a frown as her face went pale. "Crap, that was fast."

"What happened?" Teddie asked.

"Namatame just did something and I have no idea what it was," Rise said.

"See, what was I sayin'?" Kanji said, "I told you the bastard had somethin' up his sleeve!"

"We still don't know his strategies," Naoto said, "He could potentially do anything."

"Yeah," Rise said, "It's a scary thought."

"But we have to do somethin', yeah?" Kanji asked.

"Yeah! We can't let that grizzly get away!" Teddie said, "We're going to save Nanako-chan, and br-" his eyes widened as he looked up at something above Naoto's head. "N-Nao-chan?"

"What is it?" Naoto asked.

"Ya might wanna look up," Kanji said. Above Naoto's head was a weird metal halo... thing. Kanji had no idea where it had come from. It seemed to appear out of thin air.

"What is that?" Naoto looked up, brows furrowed in concentration. "I didn't even notice it until you pointed it out."

"I have no idea," Rise said, "Do you feel any different?"

"No..." Naoto said, "I feel fine. Nothing seems really wrong."

"Okay, good," Rise said. She turned to Kanji, a smirk starting to grow on her face. "Kanji, keep an eye on her for the time being, will you?"

"What the hell?" Kanji asked, "Why me?" Rise's smirk only got bigger. Of course. She was in one of her stubborn moments, the kind where she wouldn't change her mind, and wouldn't let anyone change it for her. Great. Just great. "Okay, fine."

"Good," Rise said. She finally seemed to be content.

"Has anything else happened to Sensei?" Teddie asked.

"Nope," Rise said, "They're all fine."

"Okay, good!" Teddie said, "I just don't want them to get hurt."

"No one does," Kanji said, "We just want to get this over with and get the hell outta here."

Everyone let out a sigh and sat down against the wall, completely silent and frozen in contemplation and thought.

Naoto was the first one to get up. She shot up off the ground in an instant, almost silently. The metal halo whirred, starting to spin rapidly.

"Whoa, what's up?" Kanji asked. He stood up and looked around.

"I-I don't know!" Naoto said, "My – it seems like I'm moving entirely on my own." Her eyes were wide, although Kanji couldn't tell whether it was surprise, fear, or something else entirely.

"What?!" Rise stood up. "That doesn't make any sense!"

"This must have been Namatame's goal to win this battle," Naoto said. Her teeth were clenched, probably from trying to gain control of her limbs back. That was creepier to think about than it initially seemed to be. "If I do anything to harm any of you, I apologize in advance."

"It's okay!" Kanji said, "It ain't your fault."

"Just try not to kill us, okay?" Rise said.

Slowly, Naoto's hand moved to her pocket. Everyone else's eyes wouldn't leave it, and followed it the whole way. They followed it as her hands trembled, pulling her gun out of her pocket and raising it slowly, obviously against her will.

She raised it until it was exactly level with Kanji's chest.

"Nao-chan, what are you doing?" Teddie asked. He had jumped up at this point, almost frantic.

Naoto's eyes widened as she started to pull the trigger.

"Kanji-kun, duck!"

And duck he did. Just as the gunshot went off, Kanji hit the floor as fast as he possibly could. The bullet grazed the tip of his left shoulder and probably tore a hole through his jacket, but he could handle that. Sure, his mom would be pissed off and worried sick, and she'd demand to know everything that happened to him, but he'd get over that. He could think of a story later. At least he wasn't dead. That would really suck.

"Kanji! Are you okay?" Teddie ran over to him, as fast as the costume could allow. "That was _beary_ close!"

"I'm fine," Kanji said, "Someone call Yukiko over here and I'll be back up and kicking ass in no time."

"That's good," Rise said, "I thought it would be a lot worse."

"Still feel like shit."

"That makes sense!" Rise smirked. "You just got shot by your girlfriend!"

"She's not my -" Kanji sighed. There was no convincing Rise that wasn't the case, even though it wasn't even close to that.

"Sure," Rise said, "Not _yet_." She giggled. "Teddie'll take care of things from here on in."

"I dunno if I'd -"

"Kanji-kun?"

Kanji, Rise, and Teddie all turned around to see Naoto standing rigid and poised, fingers still shaking. She'd managed to gain enough willpower to drop the gun, and it lay a few feet away from her on the floor. The metal halo was still above her head, although it spun slightly slower now and didn't make as much noise. That seemed like a good sign.

"I – I'm very sorry," she said. She sighed. "I should have anticipated that Namatame would try to do something like this."

"No, you shouldn't have," Rise said, putting her arm around Naoto's shoulder, "How were you supposed to know something like that?"

"Rise's right," Kanji said, "It ain't your fault, that's what I've been telling you."

Naoto looked down at the ground. "I just feel awful about all this."

"Namatame's been going easy on us so far," Kanji said, "We're all lucky he didn't make you fire more than one shot. It's gonna get worse, and then you can feel like shit."

Naoto looked back up at Kanji again for a brief second before she dropped to the floor, unconscious. Kanji quickly rushed over to break her fall, despite the throbbing pain in his shoulder.

"Is that it?" Rise asked, "Are we done?"

"I hope so!" Teddie said, "That was beary scary!"

"You're tellin' me," Kanji said.

"We should probably tell everyone else about this," Rise said. She called Himiko again and sighed with relief once the Persona's visor covered her eyes. "The good news is, nothing really happened up on the top floor while we were dealing with this."

"That's great!" Teddie said.

They stayed silent for a while, Rise scanning the main fight on the top floor while Kanji and Teddie both looked over at Naoto, lying on the ground. She looked relatively okay; her breathing was steady enough, and she overall looked more asleep than out cold. Well, that was good. At least she didn't look as shitty as Kanji did.

Everyone was so busy doing whatever they were doing that they didn't notice the same kind of metal halo over Teddie's head until he punched Kanji in the shoulder. _Hard._

"Ow, what the hell?!" Kanji was just pissed at first. He'd been shot in that same spot like two minutes ago. Teddie had seen it happen. And this sure as hell wasn't the time to be an asshole about it just for shits and giggles.

"It's not me!" Teddie exclaimed. Of course it wasn't. If it was really him, he'd be flailing his arms around and spazzing out all over the place. Now, he just stood completely, creepily still.

"Shit!" Kanji jumped up to his feet. "We're doing this again?!"

"Like it wasn't annoying last time." Rise sighed. "Can you handle this? I have to keep an eye on everyone else."

"Fine." Kanji balled his fists. If he was going to get this done, he might as well get it over with. "Yo, Ted!"

"Yeah?"

"If I beat you up, know it's all intentional!"

"That isn't beary nice!"

"Neither is Namatame!"

Teddie pouted. "Fine! If that's what it takes to beat that grizzly, I'm all for the cause!"

"Good." Damn, Kanji's shoulder hurt. He wasn't in the position to fight anyone right now, but he didn't have a choice. He owed it to everyone else to do at least what he could, even in these, well, special circumstances.

Teddie took one step towards Kanji, who got into a defensive position, fists up, even though it was pretty uncomfortable and it made his shoulder practically cry out in pain. He just kept telling himself it was worth it, it would be good in the end.

"Hey, Rise!" Kanji said, backing away from Teddie, "Namatame's doin' other stuff up there, right? Cause Teddie's movin' pretty damn slow."

"Just the usual stuff," Rise said, "Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Then he's probably planning some important shit!" Kanji said. He turned around and looked up and down the hallway he was in. Teddie was in front of him, Naoto was still unconscious behind, and Rise was off maybe thirty feet away. And Teddie was getting closer.

Until he suddenly stopped. He stood still for a second before dropping down into a kneeling position, head bowed down.

"Ted, what the hell are you -?!" Kanji stopped. How was Teddie supposed to know what he was doing? Namatame was controlling him, he was the only one who knew what was going on here.

"Kanji, look behind you!" Rise pointed in his general direction, her eyes still covered. "I don't know what it is, but something's definitely there!"

The next ten seconds felt like an eternity as Kanji turned around, feeling like he was moving in slow motion. After keeping his eyes on Teddie for as long as he could, he turned his focus to whatever was behind him.

"Well, you all look very... tired." That was a voice that Kanji knew well, and one that sent a chill up his spine when he heard it. It almost made him plug his ears for a few seconds and check his hearing, because there was no way in hell that he could be hearing it again. It was practically impossible.

Not like anything _wasn't_ practically impossible in a world where a teenage band of misfits decided to jump into TVs to solve a murder case, but this took the cake.

As Naoto opened her eyes and slowly began to stand up again, a familiar flash of yellow glinted in her eyes. That, combined with the tone of her voice, sounded almost exactly like her Shadow.

But they had already beaten her Shadow, right? How was it standing right in front of them right now?

"As I was saying," Naoto – or was it her Shadow? Was there any way to tell? – said, "You look weakened from the fight."

"Hell, yeah, we do!" Kanji said. Who was that? Was it really her? It couldn't have been. It looked too Shadow-like to ever be her, and damn, they had made sure they beat her Shadow to a pulp. What had happened here? The questions kept entering his mind and none of them looked like they would be answered anytime soon.

Naoto chuckled. "You deserve some rest after your ordeal." Her voice had that Shadow-like tint to it, but the creepy part was that it was combined with something sounding particularly empty, almost like Mitsuo's Shadow had been.

"There'll be time for that shit later!" Kanji's eyes narrowed. What the hell was going on?

A thump came from behind Kanji as Teddie hit the floor. _Shit_. Looking back at Naoto, he realized exactly what that meant. Teddie was going to end up just like her, more like a Shadow than an actual human being.

Wait.

Namatame was getting them all, one at a time. Rise would be next after Teddie, followed by Kanji himself. If Namatame really wanted to screw them over a lot, he'd end up using this shit on the senpai up on the top floor. And then they'd all probably be dead.

"That was unfortunate." Naoto frowned, before an evil glint appeared in her now-yellow eyes. "I suppose I'll just have to deal with you myself."

Oh, shit.

Picking the gun up off the ground, she started walking towards him. Why the hell was she doing this? What had Namatame done to her? The metal halo above her head only spun faster as she raised the gun, only whirring louder and louder as she closed one eye and aimed it. Right at where Rise was standing.

But why Rise? Rise wasn't even doing anything except letting everyone up top know what was going on.

And telling them how to win.

Damn, Namatame was good. He was a sick asshole, but he was good.

"Rise, look out!" Kanji dashed over between her and the gun. Rise still was focused on scanning the top floor, completely unaware of the gun pointed right at her chest.

"What the -?" Rise took a quick look from under Himiko's visor just in time to see Kanji jump in front of her, a gunshot going off just as he did it.

The bullet flew out of the gun, but time seemed to move so slowly that Kanji could see it moving towards him. He could see Naoto's eyes widen in shock as the bullet nailed him right in the leg. Damn, that hurt even worse than his freakin' shoulder did.

"Kanji, what was that for?" Rise looked at him, confused.

"Did ya want Naoto to screw everyone else over?" Kanji asked.

Rise rolled her eyes. "You're an idiot." She took a bottle out of her pocket and tossed it across the hallway to him. "Yu-senpai gave me this to use in an emergency. I think this constitutes as one."

"Thanks." Kanji opened the bottle, seeing it was filled with a cloudy, pink-ish liquid. It looked kinda gross, sorta like Pepto-Bismol, but if it made him feel less shitty, then looks didn't really matter, right? He downed the entire bottle in one gulp, waiting for it to take effect.

Which it did almost instantly. In about ten seconds, he went from feeling like utter crap to feeling slightly drowsy to being completely passed out on the floor.

He closed his eyes right after a metal halo began to form above Rise's head.

And the last thing he ended up hearing was the clatter of something hitting the floor.


	2. Chapter 2

"Rise?" Yu called. No response. "Rise!"

"Hey, Rise!" Chie yelled, "Come on, now isn't the time for this!" They were so close, and she was absolutely exhausted. This was no time for their scanner to drop out. They were about to deal the final blow on Namatame's Shadow, but now they had to finish the job blind.

Yu sighed. "It's no use. Namatame must have gotten her, too."

"Dammit!" Yosuke said, "So everyone down there's out of it?"

"Guess so, now that Rise and Kanji are both down," Yu said.

"Do you think the same thing will happen to us?" Yukiko asked, "It appeared that Namatame's Shadow was taking control of them one at a time, in the reverse order they joined the team."

"That makes you the next to go," Yosuke said. Crap, he was right. They'd been together for so long that it seemed like it didn't matter, but in the end, when push came to shove, out of the second-years on the team, and the only team left now that the first-years were all down and out, Yukiko was the last to receive her Persona.

Rise had explained to everyone else what had happened to Naoto, and if there was one thing Chie didn't want, one thing she dreaded with all her being, it was Yukiko turning out the same way. Seemingly possessed by her own Shadow, not hesitating to try to kill people previously close to her, it was so scary, so unreal, so un-Yukiko. But Chie knew in the back of her mind that that would be happening soon enough.

But how was she going to deal with that? Yukiko was her best friend in the whole world, and Chie wouldn't do anything to hurt her. But if – or when – Namatame ended up controlling her, Yukiko would be an entirely different person, and Chie would have to fight back. But even though she'd kicked Yosuke where the sun didn't shine multiple times, the thought of using her fighting skills on Yukiko seemed entirely wrong.

Chie sighed and wanted time to move a little slower, just so she could get a chance to think.

"All right," Yu said, "I guess we'll just have to deal with the reality of being picked off, and we'll just have to beat this guy as soon as we can!"

"Yeah," Yukiko said, "We're so close, we can't give up now!"

"We owe it to Nanako-chan to get her out of here," Yosuke said, "So let's just get it over with!"

"Why are you resisting me?" Namatame asked from the background. Chie knew what would come next. "I'm just trying to save this little girl!" Yep, called it.

They had stopped listening to Namatame's "I'm saving people!" crap after a while once it had gotten boring, but he still spoke about it in the background of their conversation. It was beginning to get really annoying.

"Shut up!" Yosuke exclaimed, "What kind of world do you think you're in where this kind of crap is 'saving people'?" The air quotes were huge and exaggerated, just the way Yosuke liked them.

"Yosuke, don't try to reason with him!" Yu shouted, "There's no point! He's insane, he won't listen to you!"

"Yeah, but I'm still done with his bullsh-!"

"Chie!"

Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap. What had happened to Yukiko? This couldn't be good.

When Chie turned around, the first thing she noticed was that Yukiko was still standing. Good.

Upon further investigation, she realized just why Yukiko had yelled out her name. A red, metal halo had appeared over Yukiko's head, just out of nowhere. Exactly like the ones Rise described. Yukiko was toast.

"Yukiko!" Chie ran over and hugged her best friend as hard as she could. "Yukiko, I'm so sorry!"

"You don't need to apologize for anything," Yukiko said. She was somehow still calm. How could she be so calm at a time like this? She was about to become a pawn in this madman's giant game of chess, and yet she still told Chie that she didn't need to apologize. Chie needed to apologize for everything, because if they didn't get out of this…

Chie slowly leaned onto Yukiko's shoulder, tears forming in her eyes. She couldn't stand losing Yukiko to that monster, and she especially couldn't stand what would happen next.

"Chie." Yukiko hugged Chie back, still smiling. "It's all right. I know you can do this."

"No, I can't!" Chie said, still crying into Yukiko's shoulder. "I can't do this without you, I can't fight against you, I just can't."

Now Chie just wished that time would stop, just so she could say all the things that she hadn't said yet. The things she may never get to say after this.

The tears only flowed harder.

"I think I have an idea," Yukiko said, "Rise said that when Namatame's Shadow ended up possessing Naoto, she looked and acted almost exactly like her Shadow. So if it comes down to fighting me, just think about it like you're fighting my Shadow again." Her voice slowly became diluted with her tears. "Chie, I believe in you. I know it'll be okay."

And the next second, Chie was on the ground. The second phase of the possession process had begun. It was already over.

"Chie!" Yukiko's eyes were wide. "I'm sorry!"

"Yukiko, it's not you!" Chie said, "Don't apologize!"

"Oh, crap, what are we going to do now?" Yosuke asked, "This is just going to be a distraction!"

"Chie, you stay with Yukiko!" Yu said, "Yosuke, you're with me!" He ran closer to Namatame's Shadow, Yosuke close behind him.

Soon, Chie and Yukiko were alone. Yukiko stood still and rigid, although there was still a tear in her eye as she turned to face Chie.

"Yukiko," Chie said, "I can't do this."

"You have to!" Yukiko said, "I won't mind. I know why you're doing it."

"Yeah," Chie said, "But I don't want to hurt you!"

"Hopefully, it won't come to that," Yukiko said. She smiled. "Chie, you'll still be my best friend, no matter what happens. After this is over, I'll be there. I promise."

" _Hello, everybody!"_ Was that Rise? But Namatame's Shadow had taken control of her, right? Why was she here?

"Rise?" Yosuke asked from across the hall, "What happened to you?"

 _"Nothing much, Yosuke-senpai!"_ Rise was chipper as ever. " _I just managed to -"_

"Don't listen to her!" Yu said, "I think I'm right in saying that right now, she's exactly like Teddie and Naoto were! She's going to try to mess us up!"

"Crap!" Yosuke said, "So now we're not only beating Namatame's Shadow without her, but we're doing it with her outright lying to us?"

"Essentially," Yu said.

Yosuke sighed. "This is gonna suck!"

Chie tried not to listen and looked right at Yukiko, who was standing right in front of her. Yukiko took one step, then another, until the two of them were only inches apart, looking right into each other's eyes.

"Chie, get back!" Yukiko said, "You have to defend yourself!"

"I don't want to!" Chie said, "Don't you understand, Yukiko? I don't want this to happen at all!"

"It's too late, I'm sorry!" Yukiko said, "You'll just have to do the best you can. I know you can do it."

Chie looked down at the ground. How could this be happening?

Yukiko threw the first punch, just barely missing Chie's face as she ducked down. Her eyes were wide, her mouth open in shock. They were both panting hard, both staring into each other's eyes like there was nothing else to look at in the entire world.

"Chie, I'm sorry!" Yukiko gasped.

"I said it's okay!" Chie looked up at the other girl's face. Yukiko was staring straight ahead, but there was still a frown on her face. "I'll be fine, I promise! It's not your fault!"

Yukiko sighed. "I can't do anything about it."

"And that's just fine." Yukiko threw another punch. Chie failed at a backbend, but still got far enough back to avoid the full force of it. Chie ran over towards the others, Yukiko following close behind.

"No!" Yukiko looked right up at Namatame's Shadow as she ran, "I don't want to do this!" A tear rolled down her face. "Stop this right now!"

A twisted smirk appeared on the Shadow's face. "What are you saying? This _is_ what you want! This is why I saved you!"

"No, it's not!" Yukiko was almost in hysterics. "I would never do this! Not ever!"

Chie was so distracted by Yukiko's sudden outburst that she didn't notice the third punch coming until it hit her square in the face, leaving her winded on the ground. It seemed like Yukiko had just whirled around without any sort of warning, and Chie didn't even think she knew it. And in the ten-plus years they had known each other, Chie had no idea that Yukiko could hit so _hard_.

"Chie!" Yukiko's mouth hung open, but that didn't stop her from sending a kick Chie's way that she barely managed to dodge, her head almost hitting the floor as she did so.

And then it was over. Yukiko stopped moving as she fell to the floor. Chie dashed over to squat next to her.

"Chie, you know what comes next," Yu said, not taking his eyes off the Shadow in front of him, "Get ready."

"I know." Chie frowned, looking back down at Yukiko, lying motionless on the ground. How did this happen? How was Namatame this powerful? This was nothing like they had expected, nothing even close.

Now, it was only a matter of time before the hardest part of this entire ordeal would begin. At a time like this, Chie only wished she could have asked Kanji or Rise what to do. They'd been through the same thing maybe five minutes ago. But that was clearly an impossibility now, considering that Rise was under Namatame's control and Chie had no idea what had happened to Kanji.

This was frustrating and nerve-wracking at exactly the same time. Not to mention she was still sore from all the maneuvering she'd had to do within the last minute.

"It's coming," Yosuke said, "You know it is. And, uh, I'm sorry, but -"

"I know!" Chie said, "I just don't know how to do it! This is Yukiko we're talking about! I've known her for upwards of ten years, and I've never done anything to hurt her. But what if I have to?"

"She'll understand." Yu gave that knowing smile he always did. "You heard her. You can only do what you can."

"Yeah, but," Chie said, "I don't want to go through with this."

"I don't think anybody would," Yu said.

Chie sighed and looked straight ahead at Namatame's Shadow. She'd get him back for this, that was the only she thing she knew. She wouldn't let him go, not after this.

"Chie?" Oh, shit. It was happening. Yukiko slowly sat up, an evil-tinted smile slowly appearing on her face. Her eyes opened, the same shade of yellow that her Shadow's had been, and they seemed to stare right into Chie's soul. "Oh, Chie! It is you!"

"Y-Yukiko?" Chie asked, standing up and stepping away. This wasn't her, she knew it wasn't, and yet she wanted to go give the other girl a hug, hoping that that would make things go back to normal. Even though she knew they wouldn't.

There was only one way to get her back, and that was to beat the Shadow controlling her.

"Guys," Chie said, "I can handle this. You two get Namatame." She stood up, still looking into Yukiko's eyes, unless she tried something.

Yu and Yosuke nodded, turning their attention back to the Shadow, both looking especially prepared to fight. Chie knew exactly why. They'd been angry when this had happened to Naoto and Rise, but they hadn't actually seen it for themselves. Now Yukiko was standing in front of them, possessed and just about ready to rumble.

"Do you see what I mean?" Namatame's Shadow looked right at Chie. "I've saved her, and now she has no fear, no inhibitions, nothing stopping her from being exactly who she wants to be."

"Did you even hear her?!" Chie was yelling, in stark contrast to the calmer voice the Shadow put on. "She said that this was what she didn't want!"

"Chie, it's useless," Yosuke said, "He's not going to listen to you. He's too cooped up in his own delusions!"

"I still want to give him a piece of my mind!" Chie knew it was rash, she knew it was stupid, but she owed it to Yukiko to say the stuff that she couldn't.

"It's useless, you know." Yukiko sounded exactly like her Shadow did, sending a chill up Chie's spine. "Yosuke was right, you aren't going to convince him to do anything." She smiled and took a step towards Chie. "Besides, didn't you say you were going to stay here?"

"Yeah, I did." Chie's eyes narrowed. She knew she was doing a horrible job at trying to hide that she was scared, but honestly, she didn't care one bit. "And that's what I'm going to do."

Yukiko laughed. "Well, then, make yourself at home! Get used to the pain you'll feel once I defeat you!"

This wasn't Yukiko. Chie had known that going in. But that didn't change anything, not really. It still looked and sounded somewhat like her best friend, and that's what made it even worse.

"Now, how about we make this interesting?" Yukiko asked, looking right into Chie's eyes. As she stretched her arm out in front of her, a blue tarot card slowly lowered over it. Shoot. "Persona!"

Chie squatted down to the ground, bracing herself for the impact. Sure, Konohana-Sakuya had Dias to spare, but in the end, Yukiko's affinity as a whole was fire, and with Chie being more of an ice person, that wouldn't end well.

But then nothing ended up happening. The sound that usually came with summoning a Persona out of the deep recesses of your mind or wherever it came from didn't show itself. It didn't work.

"What?!" Yukiko's eyes were narrowed as she stared at Chie, then at Namatame's Shadow. "What the hell was that? That was supposed to work!"

"You couldn't summon?" Namatame's Shadow temporarily lost its calm edge.

"No!" Yukiko crossed her arms and looked straight at the Shadow, looking angrier than she'd looked in a _very_ long time. "I couldn't! It didn't work!"

"That's impossible," the Shadow said, "You were supposed to be able to do anything while under my control."

 _But she couldn't_ , Chie thought. She grinned, knowing exactly what that meant. It was just like Rise and Yukiko had said earlier, Yukiko was acting more like her Shadow than an actual human being, and those types of Shadows couldn't really summon Personas, could they? Didn't you have to actually face your Shadow to gain your Persona in the first place? Either that or the real Yukiko had somehow gathered enough willpower to stop Namatame from letting her do it. If that was the case, then real Yukiko was in there somewhere, and she was being a badass. Both things that Chie really wanted to hear at a moment like this.

"Come on, Yukiko!" Chie shouted, "Fight him!"

While Yukiko may have been strong enough to prevent Namatame from making her use her Persona, she wasn't strong enough to fully break free. That was made perfectly clear when she turned back around, glaring at Chie the entire way.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Yukiko asked, "I'm not fighting him. Why would I do that?"

Chie sighed. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. After all, they'd gotten this far only because of the work they'd put into it, why would the end be just a free ride? Namatame wasn't the type to be all "Hey, you did all this, so here's Nanako back! And as an added bonus, I'll turn myself in, no struggle!" Not at all.

At least things were getting better. At least, Chie thought they were.

But soon afterward, things only got worse.

It started going downhill when Chie suddenly stood up straighter, for no reason at all. It was weird, like she was being pulled up by a string.

"Well, would you look at that?" Yukiko just smiled. "You're well on your way to turning out just like me."

"What?!" No. This was – _no._ This could not be happening. Chie didn't dare look up, because she knew what she would be seeing. If she was bout to turn out like Yukiko had, then there was only one option to what she'd be able to see up there. And she _really_ didn't want to see that. Especially not right now, when the lives of everyone else she cared about hung in the balance. Everyone downstairs was counting on her, Yukiko was counting on her, Yu and Yosuke were counting on her, Nanako was counting on her, the list didn't ever really end. Even the other people in town outside the TV world were counting on her, because if they didn't stop Namatame here, he'd just keep "saving" people, and nobody was perfect, and somebody would eventually die on their watch. Well, it wasn't explicitly Chie who people were counting on. Yu and Yosuke were defeating Namatame's Shadow, so technically it was all on them. But if what she thought would happen actually happened, they'd be alone, weak, and hopelessly screwed with defeat almost inevitable. And Chie didn't want that to happen.

But as she looked up at the red, metal halo forming above her head, she knew it would anyway. She knew it was hopeless. Phase one was beginning, and the next two would be soon to follow.

Dang it, she'd gotten so _close_. She and the others were about to save Nanako, catch the killer, and end these dumb murders once and for all. But no, Namatame's Shadow had to have a trick up his sleeve, he had to start picking them off. It was stupid.

"Guys!" Chie yelled, "I think it's over... well, it is for me, probably."

"What?" Yu turned around. His eyes widened once he saw the halo before he looked down at the ground with a sigh. "Oh. Well, that puts a damper on things."

"Dude, what?!" Yosuke asked, "No way! This can't be happening!"

"That's what I thought, too!" Chie said, "I'm sorry, guys!"

"No, you don't have to be sorry!" Yu said, "It's not your fault! Whatever you do anytime after this is Namatame's doing, not yours!"

He was still so supportive, even though this may have hurt him even more. It was one of the things that Chie had always admired about Yu: he never stopped trying to make people happy. He was without a doubt one of the nicest guys she'd ever met, and she was happy to be fighting with him as opposed to any of the other guys at school. He'd even made a good impact on Yosuke, and Chie may have been eternally grateful to him just for that.

"You've done all you can, Chie." Yu smiled. "Thank you."

He was thanking her at a time like this? No way. He was nice, but not "you're-about-to-kill-me-but-thank-you-anyway" nice.

"Yeah," Yosuke said, "You don't need to really fell bad about this. We'll still beat that asshole, right partner?" He grinned at Yu.

"Right." Yu grinned back.

"Bye, Chie!" Yosuke waved. "Good luck!"

"Thanks, you two." Chie smiled. "I'll do my best!"

She turned to face Yukiko again. The other girl had the most twisted smirk on her face, something Chie would never expect from her.

"So, you've accepted your fate?" Yukiko asked.

"Yeah," Chie said, "As much as I don't want to, I know the guys can and will beat Namatame up without me, and I think I can trust them."

Yukiko laughed. "Trust? That's stupid. You can never really trust anyone."

Chie winced. The fact that this wasn't actually Yukiko was both easy and hard to believe at the same time.

And out of that wince came the strongest punch she'd ever seen herself do, right at Yukiko's face. Phase two. Great.

"Well!" Yukiko laughed again, stepping out of the way of the punch with ease. "I never knew that you could punch that hard!"

Chie looked down at her balled-up fist, completely dumbfounded. What the hell was she doing? She had no control whatsoever of what was happening. At least she didn't actually hit Yukiko. That would be really bad. Although maybe that would make her angry enough to snap out of it. That didn't seem likely.

"Trust me, next time you might actually get the chance to hit me," Yukiko said, "It's only a matter of time."

"No!" Chie yelled, "I wouldn't-!"

And then it was over. She felt her vision go straight to black, with Yukiko smirking as she closed her eyes. She didn't even feel herself hit the floor.

 _I didn't want to hurt you_.


	3. Chapter 3

Happy birthday to me!  
So here's chapter three!  
I've been writing a lot lately  
And I'll be back in a jiffy!

(Yeah it's my birthday tomorrow :3)

* * *

"Chie!" Yu shouted.

"Come on, Chie, not now," Yosuke whispered, fingers crossed, hoping she'd get back up, entirely back to normal. But she didn't move. In the back of his mind, Yosuke knew that. Now, he and Yu were alone with Namatame's Shadow and his army of their possessed friends. Seren-freakin'-dipitous.

"Hey, Yosuke," Yu said, "Let's use this opportunity and take Namatame down!"

"Right!" Yosuke nodded. They had a tiny window of time, maybe three or four minutes, before Chie would get back up and Yosuke would fall under Namatame's control in the exact same way, but if they worked fast enough, then that wouldn't be an issue. Namatame didn't have that much energy left; the two of them could take him out, no problem.

Sure, the race against the ever-ticking clock did create a ton of unnecessary pressure, but they could work with that. After all, it wasn't over until they were all lying dead on the floor.

Yosuke hoped it wouldn't come to that.

"No!" Namatame's Shadow let out a loud, anguished cry once Yu got a hit on him. "What are you doing?"

"We're done with your crap!" Yosuke shot a Garudyne right at him. It was what he liked to call a rage attack, filled with the perfect Yosuke Hanamura blend of anger, irritation, and impatience he felt right now. This had gone on far too long.

Namatame's chuckle echoed across the battlefield. "You know what comes next, don't you?" His dead eyes stared right into Yosuke's soul. "You'll be just like the others soon enough, and you can't do a thing about it!"

"You're wrong!" Yosuke resisted the urge to jump out at him. That would be rash, and something they really didn't need right now.

"Yosuke, don't waste your energy!" Yu said, "We're almost there!" He shot another attack, this one hitting Namatame _hard_.

"Nice one, partner!"

"Thanks." Yu grinned. "A few more hits and he'll be done for."

"Great!" Yosuke hit Namatame again, trying to see if he could deal at least a little more damage by thinking about beating him to a pulp. He didn't know if it actually worked or not, but it felt really good to think about.

He must have hit Namatame maybe four times before he realized that Yu had been staring right at him for the last two. This wasn't good.

"Hey, what's up, dude?" Yosuke knew what it was before he saw the pained look in Yu's eyes. "Crap. It's happening, isn't it?" He didn't dare look up. He thought he would rather delude himself a little longer than get the awful truth served up to him on a silver platter.

"Yeah." Yu nodded before turning away with a solemn sigh. "We were close. We were so damn close."

"I know," Yosuke said, walking up right next to him, "Sorry, partner."

"No, it's okay," Yu said. He gave the tiniest grin, putting his hand on Yosuke's shoulder. "I can do this. Just you watch."

Yosuke nodded. So this was how it would end. With Yu effectively alone, trying to fight as long as he could, until he either beat this guy, or died trying. What if he did fail? Would it be all of a sudden? Would it be obvious from the beginning? Who knew? Maybe Yosuke would be the one to deal the final blow. That would be one hell of a way to die.

Namatame's Shadow let out a long, twisted laugh. "It's all over now, isn't it? Now, why don't you just accept your inevitable demise?"

"Never," Yosuke whispered, "I won't let you do this."

"Sure, that may be what you say." The Shadow stayed calm, with its composure still intact, doing a much easier job than Yosuke was doing. "But what is it that you truly want?"

 _Not this_ , Yosuke thought, _Not anything like this._

And then he heard a loud whir above his head. This was it. It was over, wasn't it? Great. What was going to happen now?

Yosuke couldn't move after that. He stood, paralyzed, watching everything fold out in front of him. It felt like forever to wait through, standing right outside the action but not being able to do a thing.

So Yu really was alone now. He was the only one able to defeat Namatame, that's what this all meant. And while he was the single strongest guy that Yosuke had ever met, the odds of him actually beating this guy were near impossible, especially right now. As he called Persona after Persona, trying to get a hit in, Yosuke realized that it didn't faze Namatame that much.

How much time did he have left?

Yosuke thought Namatame would have done something else. He could have brought Yosuke into the battle itself, closer to Yu, so even if they were on different sides, Yosuke could tell him that he could do it, that everything would be just fine. Hell, he could even tell a joke and lighten the mood, which might give Yu the confidence to actually finish this once and for all.

He was standing far enough away to not be able to do a thing, but he was close enough to see everything happen. He stared at Yu for a long time, seeing him get worn down bit by bit. And he knew that there wasn't a thing he could do about it.

He barely noticed falling down to the floor.

After that, everything went black. Yosuke couldn't open his eyes. He had no idea what was going on, but he could hear particularly well. He could hear Namatame's Shadow laughing like there wasn't a care in the world. And he could hear footsteps, fast approaching in his direction.

"Yosuke!"

 _Yu?_

"Yosuke, are you okay?"

 _Yeah, I'm okay. I'm fine. Are you okay? I'm worried about you._

Yosuke couldn't see him, couldn't say a thing to him, but he could hear him just fine and he could practically feel Yu's enthusiasm drain right out of him and hit the ground as he sighed and got up, walking away.

 _Partner, no. I'm okay. You can do this. I don't want to see you like this. It'll all be over soon. You'll do it, I know you will._

And then Yosuke could see again. He was looking right up at the sky above his head, which was brighter than he remembered it being. Was it over? Was this it?

It couldn't have been. It couldn't have been that easy. He only barely saw what happened with Chie and Yukiko, but if he heard from Rise was true, the worst of it was beginning right now.

He shot up to his feet instantly, something he didn't expect at all. As his eyes adjusted to the world around him, he realized something seemed slightly off about his vision. Something seemed fake, like he was looking at the world through a video or a Skype call instead of through his own eyes.

This wasn't good.

He tried calling out to Yu to watch out, that this wasn't what it seemed, but he couldn't open his mouth, couldn't speak. He couldn't move, either. Frankly, Yosuke had no idea what was about to happen.

This _really_ wasn't good.

"Yosuke!" Yu's eyes brightened once he saw Yosuke standing up.

 _Partner, don't do it. This isn't what it seems. Don't be stupid, dude!_

"Ah, well, hello, _partner._ " That sounded so wrong. The words were coming out of Yosuke's mouth, but he had no intention whatsoever of saying them. Yosuke was normally sarcastic, that was entirely natural, but this was... it was different. And not in a good way.

So this is what it felt like, being possessed. Being able to see exactly what you were doing, but not having any control over it. It was like you were watching a let's play of your life. You were watching the game fold out in front of you, but you didn't have the controller.

Frankly, it was the single creepiest thing Yosuke had ever experienced. And he knew that it would only get worse from here.

"Well, well, well." Namatame's Shadow talked slowly, seemingly without any kind of emotion. "Look what just happened here." He smirked as he looked at Yu. "Looks like you're all alone now, poor boy."

 _No, he's not! I'm standing right here!_ It was no use. Yosuke couldn't do anything about any of this. He was alone with his thoughts, all locked up inside his head until Yu actually beat that bastard.

That is, _if_ Yu actually beat that bastard.

But he would, right? They'd beaten every other shadow they'd come across, how was this one

any different?

Okay, this one was a lot different, but that wasn't the point. Yu would beat this guy for sure, no doubt about it. He totally had all the capability of doing it, and there was nothing stopping him.

Except maybe Yosuke himself.

But hopefully, if things went alright, Yu would end up winning this fight before things went there. Of course he would.

Yu turned around to look at Yosuke again. Did he see anything wrong? He must have, that smile was too twisted to go unnoticed. Not to mention that if this was the same thing that happened to Yukiko, the freaky, yellow, glowing Shadow eyes must have been there, too.

 _Come on, Yu, don't be an idiot, please_.

Yu smirked and turned back to Namatame's Shadow. "I'll defeat you before anything goes really wrong." He shot another attack at him, hitting him pretty hard. This one actually looked like it hurt. Was this it? Was it already over? That would have been quicker than Yosuke thought it would.

"Well, now." Even in the face of death, the Shadow standing in front of them stayed calm, giving the tiniest of golf claps. "You're much more powerful than I ever anticipated you to be. I must say that I'm quite impressed. I know when I should drop out of a fight." He chuckled, the sound of it echoing seemingly forever. "However, there is just one more task you must accomplish."

He pointed with one long, scraggly finger at something behind where Yosuke was standing. It looked a far ways off, by the way Yu had to squint to get a good look at it. Once he was able to focus on it, his eyes got incredibly wide as a scowl appeared on his face. Damn, right now, Yosuke really wanted to turn around, just to see what it was.

"Do you see it?" Namatame said a few seconds later. Yu jumped when he heard the Shadow's low, haunting voice. "I may have failed at defeating you, but there is no way that you'll stop me from saving her!"

Nanako. It had to be. Crap, was she okay? Was she even still alive? They'd been so busy fighting Namatame that Yosuke had temporarily forgotten the connection between them. They'd only gone after Namatame in the first place because he had Nanako, he'd thrown her in here. Well, he'd thrown everyone in here, but this was the last straw. Everyone else was at least in their first year of high school. Hell, Kanji was the youngest out of the rest of the team, if Yosuke remembered correctly, and he was still able to handle himself in here just fine. Nanako was _seven_. It was one hell of a low blow to throw her in here.

Yu's eyes narrowed, clenching his fist as he took a single step away from Namatame.

 _Dammit, partner_ , Yosuke thought, _I wish I could help._

Before he could finish the thought, Yosuke had taken three large strides, now standing right in front of Yu. He felt a grin appearing on his face, saw himself staring right into Yu's eyes as he realized just what Namatame had in mind.

"Sorry, partner." The grin on Yosuke's face only got wider. "I'm afraid that you won't be able to get past me." How was Namatame this messed up? Yosuke couldn't wait for all this possession bullshit to be done and over with.

"Yosuke, move." Yu tried to keep his voice steady and collected, but Yosuke could hear the anger coming through right now. "I don't have time for this."

 _Neither do I! No one has time for this, bro! Namatame's just screwing with us! It isn't me, it's just not!_

The two of them were standing almost uncomfortably close to each other, their faces maybe six inches apart. Back before this whole murder thing started, it would have been the same distance when King Moron told couples to break off the PDA.

"Yosuke, listen to me," Yu said. He didn't move.

 _Come on, dude, don't waste your time trying to get me back! Nanako's the one that matters, not me. Now is not the time for a speech!_

"If the real you is actually somewhere inside there," Yu continued, "You can break out. I know it seems impossible. I don't even know if you can hear me. But it's worth a shot. It's hard to do, I get that, but I know you've been through a lot worse, and you can do this." He smiled. "I know you can. You're stronger than you think you are."

"Ugh, shut up!" The voice that came out of Yosuke's mouth sounded just like his Shadow did. It sounded like the real him enough, but it had that tint to it, that haunting tone that made it seem like something not human. "I'm done with your bullshit!"

Yosuke's hand had balled into a fist before he had even stopped talking, and it was now pulled back behind his ear. He could feel the tension in his arm, and he knew exactly what was going to happen.

Yu barely had any time to register what was about to happen, let alone dodge the punch, before Yosuke's fist ended up hitting him square in the face. After about a second of confusion and horror appeared in Yu's eyes, he hit the ground hard.

He'd knocked him out.

Holy shit, Yosuke had knocked him out.

Which meant that Namatame had pretty much won. Which meant that they were probably all going to die pretty soon. After all, there was no one left to save Nanako, no one left to bring Namatame to justice. This was such a lackluster ending. Yosuke had hoped it would end with a bang or something, but now everyone just had to wait here, effectively alone. For how long? Forever? That would be one waste of a life.

Yosuke saw Yu on the ground out of the corner of his eye. A bruise was already beginning to form around his left eye. His breathing was rapid and shallow, and he almost seemed out of breath.

What would happen now? Would he fall under Namatame's control, too? But he didn't have a Shadow to emulate, so how would that even work? Yosuke really didn't want to find out.

But that wasn't what really mattered. The real question was whether Yu was okay. Was he going to be able to get back up? Was he seriously injured? Worse?

What made it even worse was that it was all Yosuke's fault. All of it. People would disagree, say that Namatame had made him do this, but Yosuke was the one who didn't have enough willpower to break free.

Or maybe he did. He was certainly riled up. His best friend was lying unconscious on the floor, after all. Of course he was going to be pissed. He only had to use his anger to his advantage and -

Yosuke coughed. It wasn't a huge wheeze or anything like that, but enough to stop him for a while and give him a chance to catch his breath.

"No!" For once, Namatame's Shadow behind him couldn't keep its cool. "How is this happening?"

"What?" Oh, man. Had Yosuke actually said that out loud? No way, that couldn't be happening. It was almost too good to be true.

"You broke free!" Steam was practically coming out of the Shadow's ears. It was almost funny, if Yosuke ignored the context of what was going on.

Now for a witty comeback. He had just defied this guy's expectations entirely, after all. He had to think of something clever to say. Damn it, if cramming for exams had taught him anything, Yosuke wasn't one for working under pressure.

"Well." He grinned. "I got tired of waiting for stuff to happen, so I just decided to do it myself." It wasn't great by any stretch, but hey. It worked perfectly okay for the task at hand.

Yosuke completely ignored Namatame's cries of anger, and turned around to face Yu on the ground. Squatting down next to him, Yosuke saw that his eyes were still closed, and to be honest, he looked like crap.

"Hey, partner," Yosuke whispered, "You okay?"

"Yosuke?" Yu blinked twice, slowly, before rubbing his eyes and sitting up. He grimaced once he felt the area around his left eye. "How did you – I thought you were -"

"That's a long story," Yosuke said, "I'm not sure what happened, but I'll explain everything later."

"Okay." Yu nodded, slowly getting up to his feet. "So we're getting Nanako back?"

"Yep." Looking up, he saw that Nanako was just on the other end of the floor, maybe fifty feet away. She looked actually okay, despite how long she'd been in here. She at least didn't look dead, and that was a really good sign.

But what really got Yosuke's attention was Chie and Yukiko standing at attention in front of her. They were probably still possessed, and while that was sucky, at least there was a pretty good chance that Yu and Yosuke could get past them, if they worked together. Not to mention that Yosuke had seen that they weren't able to use their Personas, a major disadvantage on their part.

"What are we waiting for?" Yu grinned, starting to break out into a run. "Let's end this thing!"

"Right!"

The two of them broke out into a sprint towards Chie and Yukiko, who started to get into a defensive position as soon as they approached. Chie had an almost-feral snarl on her face as she readied herself for a powerful kick.

"Yosuke, you take them!" Yu shouted, "I'll get Nanako!"

"You think that'll be it for Namatame, too? Everyone else is probably still possessed down there"

"I'm not sure, but this is what's important right now!"

Just for good measure, Yosuke quickly summoned Jiraiya and shot a quick Garudyne right at Namatame's stupid face. The Shadow scowled for a quick second, but it was obvious that he'd taken a hit. Good.

As Yu took a wide circle as he ran around Chie and Yukiko, Yosuke met them head on, as the two girls came running towards him.

"Hello, ladies!" He grinned. His wit had truly returned from the battle. "I know you both want me so bad, but don't worry, there's enough of me to go around!" He shot two Garus, one at each of them, causing them both to double back, distracted for a second. God, he loved having the upper hand.

"Yosuke, just keep them occupied! I'm almost there!" Yu had almost completed the arc, had almost gotten to where Nanako was lying on the ground. They were so close. This was it. They were going to catch the killer, solve the crime, save Nanako, it would all be over after this. They were in the home stretch, the bottom of the ninth inning, the game was about to end.

Yosuke barely managed to duck under a kick from Chie sent right to his face, but he knew that probably didn't matter. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yu closing out the circle, dashing faster than he'd ever gone before. Yosuke couldn't blame him. Pausing for barely a second, Yu ducked down, picked Nanako up off the ground, and grinned at Yosuke, who eagerly grinned back.

They'd done it. Holy crap, they'd actually done it.

"Well, then." Namatame's Shadow slowly applauded behind them. "I may be many things, but a man who goes back on my word isn't one of them."

With that, Chie and Yukiko both fell to the ground instantly. Was it over? Was that whole possession crap done and over with? Man, this felt so _good!_

"Well, partner." Yosuke walked over to where Yu was standing, Nanako unconscious in his arms. "We did it."

"Yeah," Yu said. He smiled. "It's all over." He slowly put Nanako down on the ground before putting his arm around Yosuke's shoulder, starting to laugh.

"Hey, dude, what are you doing?"

"Exactly what you said!" He only laughed more, the grin on his face making the whole floor seem brighter, even though there wasn't any good source of light. "We did it, partner!"

"I know! And not just this dungeon either! There isn't going to be another one! We caught him for good!"

"You know, I'm kind of going to miss this."

"I'm actually going to have to go back to not having a life and working 24/7!"

"That sucks, dude."

For about a minute or so, they stood together, looking around the dais and laughing the whole time. They didn't even say a word to each other, they just shared a smile and knew that it was actually over, that they'd done it. Even when Yu wrapped Yosuke in the tightest hug he'd practically ever received from anyone, Yosuke didn't really mind. It didn't matter now, right? It was just the two of them, at least until Chie and Yukiko got up.

"Honestly," Yu said, "I'm glad I got to do this with you by my side."

"Me, too." Yosuke chuckled. "I honestly never thought I would like it here when I moved in last year."

"Yeah," Yu said, "But you know. Things happened, and in the end, this place actually worked out."

"Yep."

"Ugh, what _was_ that?" Chie slowly stretched her arms, like she was getting up in the morning, before standing up and walking over to the other two. "We won, huh?"

"Yeah," Yu said, "Thanks a lot."

"No problem." Chie grinned. "I can't even believe it's over. We caught the killer, the case is one-hundred-percent solved!"

"I know!" Yosuke smiled.

There was a quiet grunt from behind them as Yukiko blinked twice, before getting up to her feet and standing next to Chie.

"Well, that was an... experience," she said with a frown.

"Yukiko, there is seriously no reason to frown right now!" Chie put her arm around the other girl's shoulder, grinning just as wide as Yu was. "We did it!"

"Right, we did!" Yukiko was starting to giggle again. In any other situation, this would have been annoying as hell, but now was just the right balance of relief and happiness that it didn't matter in the slightest. "Congratulations, everyone!"

"Same to you," Yu said, "We couldn't have done it without you."

"Oh!" Yukiko looked down at the ground, a smile growing on her face. "Thank you!" She launched into one of her giggle fits, and at this point, no one could blame her.

Chie pulled Yosuke and Yukiko towards her, one arm around each of their shoulders. Yosuke could have said she was the happiest out of the group, but they were all pretty ecstatic right now. Yosuke put his free shoulder around Yu, and the four of them stood in a line, looking around at their surroundings, broad grins on all their faces. They stayed there for two more minutes, no one daring to break the silence.

"Uh, we should probably get back now," Yukiko said eventually, "Everyone else is probably waiting for us."

"Yeah," Yu said. Leaning down, he picked Nanako up before nodding to everyone else. "Let's go."

The four of them slowly walked back down the floors of the dungeon, talking excitedly the entire way without a care in the world.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I probably messed up the formatting somewhere haha. Also this is probably going to be the longest chapter, I got kinda carried away on Rise's section of it.

* * *

"No!"

When Rise sat up with a bolt, it was quiet. Completely and utterly silent.

What had even happened back there? It felt like the worst nightmare she'd ever had, but she knew it was real. She was watching herself act against everyone else, practically screaming the whole time, even though she knew no one could hear her. That didn't actually matter in the scheme of things, not really.

She wiggled her fingers, stood up, stretched, did a few jumping jacks, even quietly did a dance routine she remembered from three years ago. She breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that she was really back to normal. Good.

A loud gasp came from beside her, as her head whipped around to see Teddie sitting up, rubbing his eyes like he'd just woken up in the morning.

"Hey, Teddie?" Rise whispered, "You okay?"

"Rise-chan!" Teddie said, "Yeah, I'm okay." He giggled, smirking at Rise just a bit. "Especially now that you're here!"

"Shut up, bear!" Rise smiled. "I was starting to miss you." She frowned. "Um, do you remember everything?"

"Yeah." Teddie looked down at the ground. "It was beary scary!"

"Same here," Rise said. She looked around the hallway they were in. Kanji was still out cold on the floor, and Naoto was nowhere to be found, although if Rise and Teddie were back to normal, then she probably was, too. "Well, now that we're both here, everyone else must have beaten Namatame's Shadow!"

"Yay! I knew we could beat that grizzly!" Teddie wrapped Rise in – did she dare say it? - a bear hug. "We did it, we did it, we did it!"

"Yeah," Rise said, "We did."

It was almost too small to hear, but Rise heard something from behind her. There was something making a noise from somewhere else down the hall, and there was only one thing she could do about it.

"Hey, Teddie?" Rise asked, "I'm going to go check something out down the hall. Can you keep an eye on Kanji for me?"

"What?" Teddie turned around, frowning once he saw Kanji on the ground. "Right. Yeah, I can do that!"

"Thanks."

She walked towards the noise, slowly making her way through the long hallway. What was that noise anyway? Did they forget to kill a shadow on the way up? Or was it something else entirely?

Rise had a hunch, something back of her mind that she thought – no, she probably knew it was, but she didn't want to see that, _especially_ not right now. She wanted things to be okay, despite that it was already clear that wouldn't be happening.

She followed the noise into a small alcove off the main hall, hearing it get slightly louder. Her stomach seemed to fall to the center of the earth once she saw something silver gleaming in the dim light. She knew exactly what it was.

"Hey, is anyone in here?" Rise asked. After a certain point, there weren't any lights, making the alcove pitch-black. That didn't stop her from seeing a human-shaped blob sitting in the darkness.

The noise abruptly stopped. She knew that would end up happening.

"How did I know you'd be out here on your own?" Rise continued, sitting down next to the person in the dark. She knew exactly who it was. After all, who else could it possibly be?

"I suppose I usually am." With a sigh, Naoto looked up at Rise. "Sometimes, I just need a moment to myself to think."

"How do you get anything done when it's so quiet like this?" Rise asked, "It's just that you're so alone and – I don't know, how?"

"I'm not sure," Naoto said, "I think it may just be a matter of introverts versus extroverts."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Rise said, "So I take it you remember everything, too?"

Naoto nodded. "Yes. Although I wouldn't have liked to."

"None of us did," Rise said, "Everyone wanted it to go better." She smiled. "You're definitely not the only one. I'm probably going to remember this forever."

"I may very well end up doing the same," Naoto said, "You saw what happened."

"Yeah, I did," Rise said, "I'm sorry. It must have been twice as crappy for you as it was for me."

"It probably was." Naoto sighed, looking back down at the ground. "I did things that were nothing even remotely close to anything that I would normally do."

"I know. I mean, I haven't known you very long, but if I know anything, it's that you're not like that." She grinned. "I'm sure that Kanji does, too."

"What?" Naoto looked away. "I never said anything about -!"

"I know!" Rise laughed. "I was messing with you. You can ask everyone else, I do stuff like that all the time."

"Good to know."

"You okay?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Good. I was worried about you."

"You were?"

"Yes, of course I was! I know you're not used to having very many friends, but that's what friends are for! We care about you."

"Oh."  
"Yeah." Rise put her arm around Naoto's shoulder. "Come on. We should go back and talk with everyone else."

"Not yet," Naoto said, "I'd like to stay here for a little longer, if you don't mind."

"Okay," Rise said, smiling, "Just don't stay in here forever!" She stood up and walked out, back into the main hallway towards Teddie and Kanji.

"Rise!"

"Yu-senpai?!" She turned around to see Yu and the four second-years running down the hallway, broad grins on their faces. Yu held Nanako in his arms. "You're back!"

"You bet we are!" Chie gave Rise a hug. "We did it!"

"It's not like _you_ really did anything!" Yosuke rolled his eyes.

"Neither did you!" Chie's voice may have suggested that she was angry, but she couldn't stop smiling and broke out into a laugh right after she finished.

"Sorry, guys." Rise looked down at the floor. "I was a jerk."

"No, you weren't!" Yukiko said, "We all know what happened, and it's not your

fault!"

"Besides." Yu looked down at Nanako, lying in his arms. "We did what we came to do."

"Good." Rise smiled. They'd done it. They'd encountered some trouble along the way, but in the end, they'd actually done it. They'd succeeded, they'd caught the killer, and Nanako was okay.

"Nana-chan!" Teddie jumped up to his feet and ran over to Yu, looking down at Nanako with a fond smile on his face.

"She's exhausted," Yu said, "You should probably wait for a bit before talking to her."

"Okay!" Teddie nodded enthusiastically. The grin never left his face.

"Hey," Yukiko said, looking around at everyone, "Where's Naoto-kun?"  
"I don't know," Teddie said, "I haven't seen her since we all got back."

"I just saw her," Rise said, "She wanted to have some time to think about things before we all went back. I can go get her if you want."

"No, that's okay," Yu said, "We can wait a little longer if she needs the time. There's a bit more I wanted to do before we left, anyway."

"Okay!"

"And how long would that be?" Yosuke asked, "Cause I kinda want to get the hell out of here."

"Maybe five minutes?" Yu looked around, seeing everything happening around the room, quickly glancing in Kanji's direction before turning to Yukiko. "Do you have enough energy to cast a Dia on everyone? Maybe something a little stronger for Kanji."

"I think so," Yukiko said, "I'll have that done in a few minutes." She called Konohana-Sakuya before standing with her palms together in concentration.

"Great, thanks," Yu said. He smiled as he turned around towards everyone else. "Well, we did it, guys. Congratulations!"

"Yay!" Teddie was grinning from ear to ear. "Thank you beary much, sensei!"

"No problem."

"I can't believe it's really over." Chie sighed. "It feels like it went by so fast!"

"I know," Rise said, "It's been a long ride, and there have definitely been a few bumps in the road, but I know I've had a ton of fun sometimes, and it's been a blast meeting you all." The last six months felt like a minute and a million years at the same time, and here in this room were some of the best friends she'd had in a long time. Despite the circumstances surrounding how they all met, it was great, and she'd loved it, at least most of the time.

"Yeah, me too," Yu said, "It's been crazy sometimes, but I'm really glad I met you all."

And then there was silence. For two minutes, they all smiled as they stared at the walls, at each other, at Nanako actually being _okay_. Despite the lack of light, the hallway seemed brighter than it had ever been before.

"Okay, I'm done," Yukiko said, walking back over to everyone else, "We can go now."

"All right," Yu said, "Everyone ready?"

"Yeah," Rise said, "I'll go get Naoto."

"There's no need." Naoto's footsteps echoed throughout the hall as she walked out of the alcove she was in earlier. "I'm ready to leave if you all are."

"Where were you?" Chie asked.

"I was out on a smaller branch of the hallway," Naoto said, "I felt that I needed some time to think about everything that recently transpired."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Chie said, "A lot of stuff just happened."

"Okay, then," Yu said, "Let's go."

"Hey, guys?" Rise asked, "What exactly are we going to do with Kanji?" He was still lying out cold on the ground. Darn it, why couldn't he just get up? That would definitely make things a lot easier

Well, these were special circumstances.

"Yeah," Yukiko said, "The Dia seemed to work fine, but he'll probably be out until tomorrow morning or something like that."

"Right." Yu pursed his lips in thought for a second. "Okay, how about we split up? The girls go with Kanji, and the other three of us go take Nanako to the hospital."

"What happened to Kanji anyway?" Yosuke asked, "I mean, I heard the general idea of it from Rise, but what actually happened?"

Teddie, Rise, and Naoto shared a wary glance, none of them saying a word.

"Um, can we just say it's a long story?" Rise asked, "We'll tell you all tomorrow or something."

"I think it would do us all good to get some rest before we go over everything." Rise noticed Naoto looking down at the ground as she spoke, trying to avoid everyone's eyes. "There is quite a lot to process here."

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea," Yu said, "We'll all get home, get some sleep, and talk as a group at lunch tomorrow or something."

"Hey, what time is it?" Teddie asked, looking around to see if anyone had a watch.

"It's only about six-thirty." Rise pulled her phone out to look at the clock, hoping for a text or something before she realized that there wasn't any service inside the TV. Why would there be? "We got this done pretty quick."

"I'd say we've gotten pretty used to this," Yosuke said, "I'm happy for us, but you know, I'm kind of bummed it's all over."

"My thoughts exactly," Yu said, "Okay, let's get out of here. Everyone okay with meeting on the roof tomorrow at lunch?"

Everyone nodded, before going their separate ways. Teddie ran up right next to Yosuke and followed him and Yu out of the TV.

"Okay," Chie said, once the others had left, "How exactly are we going to do this?"

"I don't know." Rise looked down at Kanji. There was no way this could go well. "How about one of us takes a shoulder and we hoist him all the way back to the shopping district?"

"But what if someone sees us?" Yukiko asked, "What would we say?"

"We'd say what happened," Rise said, "We say he got beat up in a fight. People in town won't be surprised about that one bit."

"True," Yukiko said.

"In any case, let's try to take the roads that aren't as busy," Naoto said, "It wouldn't be a good idea to try and attract attention at this point. I trust you all are strong enough to handle a long way if it's required?"

"Probably." Chie shrugged. "Besides, we can always switch off if one of us gets tired."

"Chie and I can take the first shift," Yukiko said, "Unless anyone has any objections."

Rise and Naoto both shook their heads.

"Okay, then!" Chie grinned before she put one arm around Kanji's shoulder. "Hey, Yukiko, we don't have all night!"

"Sorry!" Yukiko took the other shoulder, and together the two hoisted him up. "Are you steady?"

"Yeah," Chie said, "Are you?"

"Yeah."

After that, they all left the TV fairly easily and sneaked through Junes without arousing much suspicion. It was after dinner time, there weren't many people in the store, and Chie and Yukiko knew the perfect time and place to hide when someone did walk by.

Once they got outside into the November night, it was cool, but not very cold. There was a small breeze blowing, and it felt like a breath of fresh air. The TV world could get very stuffy, and tonight reflected that just as much as any other day they'd been in there.

"So how's school?" Rise asked. She never liked silence, especially right now. She always loved having a conversation, being part of something. Maybe it was just habit, from going to all those parties she'd been forced to attend back when she was an idol, but she didn't like it when no one was talking. It felt kind of wrong.

"Um, it's okay," Yukiko said, before turning to Rise and Naoto, "Do you think you've both settled in?"

"For the most part," Naoto said, "I doubt I'll ever truly understand the social aspects of it, but academically, I'd say I'm doing well."

"I'm exactly the opposite." Rise laughed. "Obviously, I've been fitting in, but my grades are pretty mediocre." She didn't mean to sound as haughty as she did. She meant it more as saying that everyone already knew who she was due to being famous before she had arrived in Inaba, but it sounded like she was one of those spoiled brats in high schools in the movies who were always extremely catty and always had an entourage of minions behind them Thankfully, no one seemed to make anything of it.

"Good," Yukiko said.

They had about reached the edge of the shopping district, and were about halfway to the textile shop. There didn't seem to be many people on the street, just a few here and there, engrossed in their own conversations.

"How about we just try to stay out of the streetlights and go along this street?" Chie asked.

"That's a risk we shouldn't take," Naoto said, "Although I don't know where exactly we should go from here."

"There's a back road we can take," Yukiko said, "It goes behind most of the main shops and you can turn right back onto the street the textile shop is on once you go down a ways."

"Then we're going that way," Naoto said, walking slightly ahead of everyone else, "Which turn do we take?"

"The first right," Yukiko said, "You can't miss it."

It was a pretty visible turn, once they got there. On the street they turned onto, there were still a few shops, but they disappeared after a little bit, leaving only a few houses along the road. The group stayed completely silent as they walked, trying to make their footsteps completely nonexistent. Of course there was some sound, but they were probably the only ones who could hear it.

"My house is a long way down this street," Chie said quietly, "If the three of you want to stop there and regroup after we drop Kanji off, I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind."

"I'm fine with that," Rise said. She hoped she wouldn't be the only one there. What could she say? She loved parties. They helped her unwind sometimes, and they were usually pretty fun too, something she wanted after the battles that had taken place in the TV.

"I'm not sure," Yukiko said, "My parents probably want me home as soon as possible. Sorry, Chie."

"It's okay." Chie smiled. Rise noticed that the two of them seemed slightly less close than they usually did, Yukiko especially. Rise briefly wondered why, before she realized that they'd probably been through something horrible earlier tonight, too. Rise was the only one here who hadn't, and she still didn't feel like things were alright.

Yukiko tried to smile back at Chie, but it seemed almost painful when she did. Rise really wanted to know what had happened to them, but she knew it wasn't the right time to ask, and she'd probably find out tomorrow anyway.

"How about you, Naoto-kun?" Chie asked, "Wanna hang out?"

"I have a lot to get done before school tomorrow," Naoto said, "I don't think I can make it."

"Come on!" Rise said, "You need a pick-me-up, and who better to give it to you than the self-proclaimed most energetic girls in town?" She smiled. "You know what they say, laughter's the best medicine."

"I suppose I could stop by for a few minutes," Naoto said, "But we should focus on the task at hand for the time being."

"Right!" Chie said with a chuckle, "How could we forget?"

"Yukiko-senpai, is the textile shop still open?" Naoto asked.

"Yeah, it closes at seven-thirty," Yukiko said, "Why?"

"We're probably going to have to distract Kanji-kun's mother at some point," Naoto said.

"Yeah," Yukiko said, "She'd probably throw a fit."

"But how?" Chie asked, "We can't do this if we don't know what we're going to do."

They all stopped to think for a few seconds, each of them probably thinking of new and different ideas.

"I think I have a plan," Yukiko said, "I don't know if it'll work."

"It's all we've got," Chie said, "What is it?"

"My mom and Tatsumi-san are good friends," Yukiko said, "So I happen to know that they have a spare key under the doormat at the back door."

"Wait, are we breaking and entering?" Rise asked.

"It's for a good cause!" Chie chuckled awkwardly.

"Anyway," Yukiko said, "How about Chie and I go into the shop proper and distract her while Rise and Naoto go through the back and drop Kanji off?"

"I don't have any objections," Rise said.

"Neither do I," Naoto said.

"Really?" Rise smirked. "Isn't this illegal?"

"It probably is," Naoto said, "But I highly doubt we'll get caught."

"Ooh, is Naoto-kun a rebel in disguise?" Yukiko giggled. "Come to think of it, you _have_ been spending a lot of time with Kanji-kun lately!"

"What?" Naoto's cheeks turned a barely noticeable but certainly darker shade of pink. "I mean, I have, but not in the way you think!"

Yukiko grinned before bursting into another uncontrollable giggle fit. Rise was glad to see everyone having a little fun, even though it was at Naoto's expense. Rise didn't worry about that, though. Naoto was the type of person who could handle stuff like this.

"We should get going," Chie said, looking at her phone, "We only have a half-hour to get this done."

"Okay!" Rise said, briefly saluting to Chie and Yukiko before taking Chie's place and putting her arm around one of Kanji's shoulders. Naoto quickly rushed over and took Yukiko's spot. "Let's do this."

"Call me when you get out," Yukiko said, "I'll pick up, fake that I'm talking to my mom, and then we'll meet back here."

"Wow," Rise said, "You're on top of this, Yukiko-senpai!"

"Thanks," Yukiko said. Her eyes narrowed as a smirk appeared on her face. "Let's go, everyone!"

With that, they split up, Chie and Yukiko walking back onto the main road while Rise and Naoto tried to be silent as they carried Kanji around the block and through a back alley. Rise noticed that Chie and Yukiko weren't talking nearly as much as they usually did, and frankly, she was kind of worried about them. They were usually so close, ever since she'd met them, and to see them so uncomfortable with each other was almost painful to watch.

But that didn't really matter compared to how Naoto had been acting since they'd found each other after the battle ended. She was never very outwardly energetic or enthusiastic about much, but tonight was different, and Rise knew exactly why.

"Hey, Naoto-kun?" Rise asked.

"Yes?"

"You sure everything's okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. You don't need to worry."

"Oh, I think I do!" Rise frowned. "You've been pretty down in the dumps since we left, I hope you've realized that."

"I have," Naoto said, "There's a pretty good reason behind it."

"Yeah, I get that. But it'll be okay, I know it will."

"There's no way of knowing that for sure."

"Just trust me, okay?"

"I'll try, but I can't make any promises."

"That's okay."

They walked in silence from then on, both of them looking around to see if anyone was around to see what they were doing. It was a slow walk, for obvious reasons, but they eventually reached their destination: the back door.

"Well, this is awkward." Rise giggled as she leaned down to look under the doormat. Sure enough, there was a small key lying there. "Bingo."

After opening the door, the two of them sneaked into a dark room. In the middle of the room, there was a small couch facing a small TV, and off the room there was a flight of stairs leading up to what was probably a second floor. They nodded at each other before letting go of Kanji's shoulders as he gently hit the couch.

Right after gaining a free hand, Rise took her phone out of her pocket, and after turning the brightness to the lowest it could be, opened a blank note and began to type as she and Naoto made their way back to the door.

Before she opened the door, Rise showed Naoto her message – filled with emojis, of course – to which the other girl just looked utterly confused. Rise opened the door, and after the two went out, Rise started giggling.

"'You'd better kiss him goodbye'?" Naoto was extremely puzzled. "What exactly was the point of that?"

"It was a joke!" Rise grinned, putting her arm around Naoto's shoulder as they walked back down the alley. "I was just trying to have some fun in the heat of the moment!"  
"It wasn't really that funny."

"Come on, it totally was!"

"And I'm going to call Yukiko-senpai now." Ignoring Rise's laughter in the background, Naoto took her phone out of her pocket and scrolled down to Yukiko's name in her contacts before tapping the number on the screen. After waiting for a second, Rise heard a quiet click as the phone was answered.

"Hey, we're ready to go when you are," Naoto said over the phone once Yukiko picked up. She waited for Yukiko to say something else before hanging up.

"They're coming?" Rise asked.

"They'll be a minute," Naoto said, "But yes."

"Okay."

They stood in silence for a few seconds, both looking in the direction of the road to see if Chie and Yukiko were walking down it towards them, before Naoto looked down with a sigh.

"May I ask you something?" She asked.

"Yeah," Rise said.

"Could you possibly help me with something?"

"Yeah, totally. What's up?"

"I feel like I need to say something to Kanji-kun, to apologize in some way."

"Yeah, that makes sense."

"I was thinking I could leave him a voice mail or something similar. I know he won't pick up his phone right now."

"So you're asking me to help you think of something to say."

"Yes, essentially."

"Okay. You're going to Chie-senpai's house after this, right?"

"If it's a good opportunity for us to formulate a plan of action, then yes."

"All right. We'll do it together, on one condition."

"What is it?'

"When I see you at school tomorrow, you can't be as stressed about this."

"That's the point of making the phone call in the first place."

"And you have to stop blaming yourself for all this this."

"What?"

"I consider you one of my best friends, okay? If you're all depressed about it, I'm going to be slightly less perky than I usually am because of it, and because I'm worried about your well-being. That's just how friendship works."

"Oh. I'll keep that in mind."

"Yeah."

"Hey, guys!" Chie came running down the street with Yukiko close behind. "That went really well."

"Yeah," Yukiko said, "I doubt Tatsumi-san noticed a thing. Good job, you two!"

"Good," Rise said, "So, Chie-senpai, are we still coming over?"

"Yeah, if you still want to," Chie said, "It'll be fun."

"I should probably go," Yukiko said, looking up at the stars in the night sky. "I don't want my parents to worry."

"Okay!" Chie hugged the other girl tightly. "Bye!"

Yukiko briefly reciprocated with a small smile, before breaking away form the hug and running down the street towards the inn.

"Hey, Chie-senpai?" Rise asked, "Naoto-kun asked me to help her with something while we're at your place. Could you help us out?"

"Yeah," Chie said, "Depends on what it is, but I'll try."

"Great!" Rise said, grinning at Naoto. "We're going to leave one heck of a voice mail, just you watch, okay? I know this'll work."

* * *

"Are you mad at me?"

"No, Yosuke, I'm not mad at you."

"You're probably lying."

"No, I'm not. I understand."

"Do you not trust me?"

"Of course I trust you."

"Yu, I'm really sorry."

"I know. It's okay."

Outside Nanako's hospital room in the ICU, Yu and Yosuke wouldn't stop arguing, and it was almost too much for Teddie to handle. Their banter had been going on for around four minutes, starting right after they'd dropped Nanako off.

"Yosuke, stop beating yourself up."

"I can't, dude, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, no matter what you try to tell yourself."

Yosuke sighed, looking down at the ground, not daring to meet Yu's eyes. What had happened between them? They'd been so close before tonight, and now, they could barely look at each other.

"Hey, Sensei!" Teddie said, "We should go to Junes!"

"Why?" Yu asked.

"Topsicles, duh!"  
Yu chuckled. "Ted, it's late. Junes is probably closing up for the night, and we have to get home. We have school tomorrow."

Right, they did. Technically, Teddie wasn't actually enrolled in Yasogami High, but he did show up there sometimes, just to have a little fun, and no one really cared. He couldn't really see why Yosuke complained about it so much; he found it fascinating, and even kind of fun at times. Maybe it was just because he didn't have to go every day like everyone else did. If he had to wake up early every morning like he'd seen Yosuke do, he would probably hate it, too.

"Hey, Yu?" Yosuke stood up. "Want to walk home with us?"

"Thanks, but no thanks," Yu said, "There's still some stuff I want to do before I go home for the night."

"We can wait here if oyu want."  
"No, it's okay." Yu smiled. "Go get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay." Yosuke put his hands in his pockets as he turned toward the door. "Later, partner." He took a few steps, and the automatic doors opened before he turned back around. "Come on, Ted!"

"Coming!" Teddie ran out and the doors shut behind them, leaving Yu alone in the lobby. As they rode the elevator to the ground floor, it was strangely silent, with Yosuke not saying a word for the entire ride, and even for a portion of the walk back.

When they got outside the hospital, it was cold, dark, and a light drizzle was falling on the ground. It felt like something from a romance movie, one of those dramatic ones Teddie had seen playing on TV when everyone else was at school. The moment when the female lead confessed her feelings to her true love for the first time, in the middle of a rainstorm with tears forming in her eyes.

"Hey," Yosuke said once they were a block away from his house, "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah! You can ask me anything!"

"Okay." Yosuke sighed. "Some crazy stuff happened earlier."

"Yeah, I know. But it's over!"

"Yeah, but..." Yosuke paused for a second. "You weren't there, Ted. You don't know what happened."

"You could tell me!" Teddie batted his eyelashes. That always worked in the movies.

Yosuke gave a quick smile and pat Teddie's shoulder. "You're only going to be as naive as you are for a little longer. You should take advantage of it while you can."

"But what happened? I can't bear the suspense any longer!" He really did want to know what had happened to Yosuke while they were inside the TV, and for some reason, Yosuke didn't want to tell. Teddie at least wanted to know that reason, if not exactly what happened.

"Maybe I just don't want to talk about it!" Teddie jumped once Yosuke's voice suddenly got louder, echoing across the street. After that, he paused, looking down at the ground. "Sorry. That wasn't cool."

"It's okay!" Teddie said, "You don't have to tell me _exactly_ what happened."

"No," Yosuke said, "I think you should know." He sighed. "You know how Namatame possessed us all back in the TV? Well, it really messed me up." He paused again, and took a deep breath. "I almost killed Yu back there. I don't know if he still trusts me, or if this ruined our friendship for good or anything like that."

"Oh." Teddie frowned. How did that happen?

"Let's go." Yosuke quickly turned to walk back down the street.

"Yosuke!" Teddie ran after him, never quite catching up. "Why wouldn't Sensei trust you?"

"It's complicated." Yosuke didn't turn around. "You weren't there. You wouldn't really understand."

"Then say sorry! That always helps!"

"I already did, Ted."

"Call him or something and say it again!"

"No. No way. Not happening."

"Why not?"

"It's awkward."

"No, it's not! You talk to each other all the time, I've seen you!"

"You're kind of a creep, bear."

"That's not the point! You two can talk to each other again!"

"That's exactly why it's awkward!"  
Teddie frowned, before putting his hands on his hips. "Yosuke, you won't catch any fish if you don't stick your claws in the river!"

"What does that even mean?"

"You can't succeed unless you try your beary best!"

Yosuke smiled. "I never thought I'd miss the puns, but well, here we are."

Teddie grinned. "I aim to please!"

"I'll tell you what," Yosuke said, "I'll call him when we get home. But I'll call his home number so I can leave a voice mail."

"Why?"  
"So I won't actually have to talk to him."

"Oh. But it's still good that you're going to say something!"

"Yeah." When they reached the doorstep, Yosuke seemed a little happier than he was at the hospital. He had a bit of a smile on his face in the light above the porch. That was nice to see.

Once the two of them got inside, Yosuke took his phone out of the pocket of his jacket as they went to his room. Turning it on, he smiled as he scrolled down to Yu's number.

"Hey, Ted?"  
"Yeah?"

"Thanks." He pressed the green phone icon on his phone and put it to his ear.

"No problem!"

* * *

"Hey, partner, it's me. I just wanted to say that... I really effed up today, and I'm really sorry about that. I know what you're going to say, it's not my fault, it wasn't me, but honestly, I'm the only one to blame for this. I'm really glad we got out of it okay, but I just feel like I really need to do something for you in return. I don't know exactly what I'm going to do yet, but I just have to make the effort. You know. So talk to me tomorrow or something, okay? I'm all ears. That's pretty much it for me, so... bye, I guess!"

* * *

"Hi, Chie! This is Yukiko, and it's around 11:00 right now, so it's perfectly okay if you're asleep right now and you didn't pick up your phone. I just wanted to apologize for everything. I remember everything that happened, even if I told you I didn't. I don't think I told you that, but just so it's completely clear, I do. I know we just talked about an hour ago about this, and I know you think it's all right, but I can't help but think that it's not. I kind of just want to talk to you and see what happens, I guess. Thanks!"

* * *

"Hello, Kanji-kun. This is Naoto, it's about 11:30 on Monday night, and I'm calling to voice my sincerest apologies about what happened earlier. It wasn't one of my prouder moments, and I'd like to make it up to you in any way that I can. I would like to talk about it with you at school or just in general, possibly tomorrow or the next day, if you're available and if you don't mind. That's all, thank you. I'll see you soon."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Sorry for the wait, guys! I've been on a Haikyuu! binge recently and it's pretty much taken over my life! (hah) But here's a new chapter! People on tumblr were pretty excited when they found out what I was doing in this chapter so maybe you'll be, too? I don't know.

* * *

To the casual observer, Tuesday morning would have seemed like any other typical Inaba morning. People were still getting out of their houses to head off to work or school, and once you got close enough to the gates of Yasogami High, the before-school chatter was still there. The topics people were still talking about were the same as always, gossip about the town and the people in it, who was dating who, who had broken up with who, it was all the same.

But once you looked closer, you'd see things that were slightly off, slightly wrong. Like the complete silence in the Dojima household. Or the unusual quiet between Chie Satonaka and Yukiko Amagi as they walked to school. Or the suspicious absence of Kanji Tatsumi entirely after he hadn't cut class once for a few months now. Or the strangely loud volume of Rise Kujikawa's voice as she tried to be even more enthusiastic than normal. Or the pained look in Naoto Shirogane's eyes as she walked through the school gates, avoiding everyone's gaze.

Or Yosuke Hanamura walking his bike to school alone. Or Yu Narukami walking slower than normal, looking down at the sidewalk the entire way there.

Yu had left the house at 8:16 AM, and while on any other day, he would have reached the school at around 8:35, today he arrived at 8:53, leaving only seven minutes before class started.

Sitting down at 8:55, he received a quick glance from Chie and Yukiko before they turned back to the front. Yosuke was in the desk behind him, probably asleep.

Yu had ended up getting Yosuke's voice mail when he'd woken up this morning. Yosuke had sounded really wound up, just as he'd been last night, and frankly, Yu had no idea why. They'd won, Nanako was going to be okay, and Namatame had been caught. The case was over, solved, and done, so why was there still any reason to have any negative feelings at all?

Maybe Yu just didn't understand what exactly had happened in the TV last night. It had been quite an ordeal.

No matter what, he was convinced he had to make things right. And if things didn't make themselves better after this, he knew that it would all be his fault. After all, he was the team leader. It had all rested on him before now and that wouldn't change, no matter whether times were good or not.

"Hey, Yu?"

"Huh?" Yu turned around to see Chie looking at him across the aisle. "Hey, what's up?"

Chie sighed. "Nothing really, I'm just really tired. I got to bed later than I should have last night."

"Yeah, me too," Yu said, "What were you doing?"

"I invited Rise-chan and Naoto-kun over," Chie said, "Just as a stress reliever. We hung out, watched a movie, you know."

"That sounds fun," Yu said.

"Yeah, it was great," Chie said.

"You okay? Last night was pretty rough."

"Yeah, thanks."

"Good." That was a relief. That meant Yu only had six more people to worry about.

Chie leaned slightly closer, dropping her voice down to a whisper. "Hey, I don't know if you need to do anything about this. Rise-chan said she had it all under control, but I'm still worried."

"About what?"

"Our team morale. I don't know if you saw her much last night, but Yukiko's seemed... I don't know, just out of it since then. Same with Naoto-kun."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"I guess it's just the stress from last night. It was a huge deal."

"Yeah, I guess so. I just want to give everyone a group hug, you know?"

"Yeah, I know how you feel. Honestly, hugging everyone would do a lot of good."

"I don't know." Chie smiled. "Maybe I'll do that."

"Sounds great."

Chie giggled as the bell rang and students rushed to take their seats for the day. "Thanks, Yu."

"No problem."

After that, class seemed to go on as normal. It was another occurrence when nothing seemed wrong, nothing seemed really out of place. Yosuke got called on once fairly early in the morning, and as always, Yu gave him the answer. It was a simple history question, about the difference between Confucianism and Daoism. Right after answering it, Yosuke went back to sleep and no one really seemed to notice.

Except Yu. Normally Yosuke would spend the whole class either passing notes or turning around and whispering with him. This was a change, and not a good one.

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, the bell for lunch finally rang, and people rushed out like all the classrooms were on fire. Yosuke was one of those people today, waking up to the sound of the bell and trying to get out of the class as fast as possible, even though he usually wasn't. Yu packed up his stuff and wondered why, staring after Yosuke as he left.

After about two minutes, he grabbed his bag and started on his way up to the roof, where he usually ate with the rest of the team. They were supposed to be up there right now, and today was the day when they were going to have a discussion of what exactly happened last night.

But was it too early for that? Clearly, at least according to Chie, some of them, if not all of them, were still getting over the shock of it all, including him. Especially including him. But was it better to talk while the memories were still fresh? Frankly, he had no idea what to do.

"Narukami!"

In a second, Kou Ichijo had practically leaped right next to him and wrapped his arm around his shoulder.

"Haven't seen you in a while!" he said, grinning, "What have you been up to?"

"Not much," Yu said.

"Well, that's good." Ai Ebihara had walked up on the other side of him. "We were beginning to think you'd actually gotten a life without us."

Yu chuckled. "Where's Daisuke?"

"He's off at a soccer club meeting," Kou said, "Stuff about qualifications for being captain next year. We are going to be third-years after all!" He sighed. "This year's going by really fast."

"Yeah, it is," Ai said, before turning to Yu, "So, what are you doing today? Wanna come hang with us for lunch? It's kinda lonely without Daisuke around to make jokes with the idiot over here."

"You talking about me?" Kou tried to fake pout, but eventually gave up and broke into a grin.

"Yes, I'm talking about you!" Ai said, "Who else would I be talking about?" She turned back to Yu again. "So, how about it? Wanna come along for the ride?

"Sorry, can't." Yu shrugged. "I promised some other friends I'd eat with them."

"Your usual posse, eh?" Kou smirked. "Just tell us if you need some people to liven up the place. We'd be happy to help."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Hey, is something wrong?" Ai's eyes narrowed as she looked at Yu. "You look kinda... I don't know, out of it."

"Nah," Yu said, "Just tired." He wasn't exactly lying. Just not telling the whole truth.

"Aren't we all?" Kou chuckled. "It's a fact of high school life!"

"That's true," Ai said, "I've been in a perpetual state of zombie since April. That's just how it works."

"Yeah," Yu said, looking at the clock, "I should probably go."

"Cool." Kou waved at Yu as he ran off. "Text me if you wanna hang out sometime! We could shoot some hoops together, maybe invite some of your friends and we could all play a game of three-on-three!"

"Sounds fun!" Yu waved back as he started up the stairs. "I'll ask them!" Not now, of course. Next week, maybe, but definitely not now.

Once he got up to the roof and opened the door out onto it, everyone else turned to look at him as he walked out and took a seat next to Yukiko.

"Hi, senpai!" Rise waved with a smile. "Having a good day so far?"

"Yeah, thanks," Yu said, "How about the rest of you?"

Everyone shifted uncomfortably in their seats at the last comment. Chie was the only one who gave a slightly uncomfortable grin, while Yukiko looked down at the ground and Yosuke and Naoto looked away entirely, both staring into the fog off the rooftop. Things weren't getting any better after a day, and maybe the only way to get over it was to talk about it.

"Okay," Yu said, "Are you ready to talk about last night?"

"I am," Chie said, "I don't know about everyone else."

"I guess I am, too," Yosuke said, "We should talk about it while it's still fresh in our minds and stuff."

"I don't think we should do it until Kanji gets back," Rise said, "It'll be better to discuss this with everyone here."

"I agree," Naoto said, "It would also be better to wait until everyone can think clearly about it. I know I'm speaking for myself when I say this, but would it be wrong to say that we can't exactly think straight less than twenty-four hours after the incident?"

"Yeah," Yukiko said, "That's definitely true." She still didn't look up at everyone else.

"Okay," Yu said, "Let's just talk about it whenever Kanji gets back. Is everyone ready for as soon as tomorrow?"

Everyone nodded slowly, before looking down and starting to eat their lunches.

They were silent enough, the barely audible sounds of chewing being the only sounds that Yu could hear, but the fog itself just made it seem like they were even more alone. Past the edge of the rooftop, it was almost impossible to see anything, even the grass and the school gates down below. And now that they were entering the darkest part of the winter, the sun hadn't made an appearance in a very long time, only making the foggy gray sky even darker.

After about ten minutes of unbearable quiet, Chie was the first one to stand up and stretch.

"Jeez, guys, it's way too quiet around here!" she said with a grin, "Liven up the mood a bit, will ya?"

No one really returned the favor, except Rise, who tried to smile for a while. Her face took a glum turn once she saw everyone else frowning all around her.

"Um, I'm going to go down to the library now," Naoto said, standing up, "I have some studying to do."

"Okay!" Rise said, "See you after school!" She waved briefly before putting her hand down and looking down at the ground. "What happened?"

"What do you mean?" Yukiko asked.

"Last night," Rise said, "It changed something about us."

"Yeah," Chie said, "How did we go from super-chummy to not talking at all? It doesn't make sense."

No one else spoke for a few seconds. Like Yu, they probably had no idea what to say.

Rise sighed. "I guess a lot of stuff happened. I think it'll be better by tomorrow."

"Yeah," Chie said, "I hope so."

Yukiko stood up. "I should probably go back inside. It's kind of cold out here."

"Yeah, I'll join you," Chie said, "Bye, everybody. See you later, I guess." Her shoulders slumped as she followed Yukiko back into the building.

After she left, it was just Yu, Rise, and Yosuke out on the roof, none of them really wanting to talk to or even look at each other.

"Hey, Senpai?" Rise asked.

"Yeah?" Yu said.

"Can you..." she paused, thinking of what to say. "Could you try to make everything okay? I'm trying my best, but I don't know what's going to happen or if I can do anything."

"Hey," Yu said, "It's okay. It'll all be okay in the end. This is just a speed bump. I'll help you if you need it."

"Thanks." Rise smiled. "I should probably go. It's a long way to class, and I want to get some stuff done before lunch ends."

"Okay," Yu said, "I'll see you later then."

"You can count on it!" Rise grinned before waving goodbye and taking a few tentative steps before walking back inside.

Yu and Yosuke were alone, just like they'd been last night, facing Namatame's Shadow. That almost seemed like a year ago as opposed to the sixteen-or-so hours that had actually passed since then.

The only difference was that this time, they weren't nearly as energized as they had been before, and there was a rift between the two of them that hadn't existed last time.

Yosuke was sitting down on the ground, looking out into the fog, trying to see if he could make anything out of it. He was frowning, but Yu couldn't tell if it was in concentration or something else. Either way, he was fairly worried.

"It's gotten pretty thick, hasn't it?" Yu walked over and sat down next to him.

"Yeah," Yosuke said.

"What's up?" Yu asked, "You've been in a funk all day."

"I think we both know why," Yosuke said, "You just can't say it."

"What are you talking about?"

"Last night, dumbass." He looked down at his feet. "I've been thinking about it a lot lately."

"Yeah, I know. I got your call."

Yosuke's eyes widened. "You did? Then why didn't you call me back or text me or anything?"

"I was running late this morning, I couldn't do anything besides get ready for school."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

Yu looked over at Yosuke, who didn't try to meet his eyes. "Tell me everything."

"What do you mean, 'tell me everything'?"

"I want to know exactly what's going on with you right now. Why are you acting like this?"

"Why do you care? You probably don't trust me anyway."

"What?"

"Come on, admit it. You can't look at me the same way ever again after last night. It was brutal, and I don't expect you to forgive me anytime soon, if at all."

"Yosuke, are you serious? Why on Earth do you think

that's how I felt about all this?"

"Do enlighten me, because I don't know your side of this at all."

Yu chuckled. "To be honest, I'm pretty impressed."

"I almost killed you!"

They both went silent after that, for maybe twenty seconds. To be honest, Yu didn't have much of a comeback, because without a few major facts that made last night what it was, that was pretty much what happened.

"Okay…" Yu said. He went slowly, so he wouldn't be in danger of running out of things to say and stopping mid-sentence. "But that's not what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about what happened after that."

"Does that even matter?"

"Yes, it matters. In case you didn't get it at the time, you were the only one of us who was able to break free of Namatame's control entirely on your own. If you hadn't done that, we would probably all be dead."

"And your point is?"

Yu chuckled. "Thanks a lot, Yosuke. I couldn't have done it without you."

"Oh!" Yosuke laughed nervously. "You're welcome." He sighed, before looking back at Yu. "I'm really sorry, dude. About everything."

"It's okay. I accept your apology."

"Thanks."

After that, they both stared out at the fog just past the rooftop. It almost seemed close enough that you could stick your hand out and feel the gray wall in front of you.

"Hey," Yosuke said, "Can I tell you something?"

"Yeah," Yu said, "What's up?"

"Last night was just really weird and uncomfortable, you know?" Yosuke said, "It's just... agh, I don't know how to explain it. You wouldn't understand just how it felt to be in that situation."

"Yeah, I know. I'm not going to try."

"Okay." Yosuke paused for a second, looking up at the sky in thought. "Listen, you might think it's fine, but I don't. I'm not going to get over this for a long time. Sorry."

"It's okay."

"It's not!" Yosuke's voice suddenly got louder and more aggressive, and Yu had no idea why. "It's just not, okay?"

"Okay."

"Sorry, I'm just really on edge right now."

"Yeah, I get it."

"You know, you're not acting any different than you usually do. You're still not saying much."

"Do you want me to talk more? Because I can."

"No, you don't have to. It's kind of nice, having something somewhat constant with how things were before."

"All right, then."

"And, uh…" Yosuke chuckled. "This sounds really dumb, but…" He smiled. "It's fine just having you there, you know?"

"Yeah." Yu smiled back, before he scooted ever closer to the other boy and put an arm around his shoulder. "If you want to talk, you know who to call."

"Thanks." Yosuke leaned his head on Yu's shoulder. "It's really over now. I've been so preoccupied with everything last night that I haven't thought of what it all meant."

"I almost can't believe it." Yu chuckled. "The case is actually closed."

"Yeah, I know! It's weird." A frown began to appear on Yosuke's face. "Um, we're still going to be friends now, right? I mean, all that TV world BS was the only real reason we had to keep talking to each other after the first day of school, and you have friends who are a lot cooler than me."

"What? Of course we're still going to be friends!"

"Good. When are you leaving again?"

"March 21st."

"Which means we have four months until the city gets you back again."  
"Actually, I don't really want to go."

"You don't? But this place gets so boring sometimes, I'd honestly rather live in the big

city than out here in the boonies."

"Yeah, but..." Yu paused. "It's almost harder to make any friends in the city. There are so many people and you don't really get to know anyone really well because you just know everybody. You know what they look like, maybe a bit about them, but it isn't a deep bond or anything, you know?"

"You have a point."

"Anyway, out here, you see the same people all the time, and there aren't just that

many of us, so you just get to know more about everybody. Like you see someone at school, and then you see them at Junes, and then you see them all around town and... you know what I mean."

"Yeah."

"I'd say I'm better friends with all of you than I am with anyone else I ever met before coming here, if I was completely honest."

"Yeah, I know." Yosuke smiled. "You know what, dude? I don't want you to go, either."

"We still have four months! Don't get so sappy yet!"

"Okay, I won't!"

Yu smiled. So maybe Yosuke was finally back to normal after all. Maybe they could just finally put this thing to rest.

"But.." Yosuke sighed. Or maybe they couldn't. "Hey, could you do something for me?"

"Yeah, sure, anything."

"I want you to be completely honest with me here, because I want to know so I can make things right."

"Okay."

"Last night, in the thick of everything, how did you feel? What was going through your head?"

What kind of answer was Yu even supposed to give? What kind of answer was Yosuke expecting? He was probably expecting something a lot worse than anything Yu could say to him, which was good. But was Yu sugarcoating it? Even if it was the littlest bit, Yosuke had said to be honest, so what was the truth here? Was it really as bad as Yosuke seemed to think it was? To be honest, Yu couldn't really remember much of it. It had all gone by in a blur as far as he was concerned.

But out of the bits and pieces he did remember from the worst part of it...

"I was -" Yu paused. Did he really want to say this? He sighed, realizing it was for the best. "I was nervous. The slightest bit frightened. I don't know."

"I knew it," Yosuke said. He sat up and looked at Yu with a frown. "I knew everything wasn't okay. Dammit, I really messed up."

"No, it's okay," Yu said, "It wasn't your fault."

"Yes, it was!" Yosuke said, "I broke free, remember? That's what won us the fight in the first place. That means I had the strength to do it earlier. Who knows, maybe I always did? Maybe I could have prevented all this. Maybe if I had done something about it, Chie and Yukiko wouldn't be avoiding each other and Kanji wouldn't have gotten shot and we wouldn't have completely fallen apart."

"You had no control over that."

"Maybe I didn't, but I could have ended it sooner than I did. But I didn't."

"Yosuke, that's not what I'm trying to say -"

"Yu, I understand if you don't want to be friends with me after this. That was stupid and unforgivable - "

"Yosuke, what are you - "

"I'm such an asshole - "

"No, you're not, shut up - "

"I'm so, so sorry -"

"I know! -"

"I won't be -"

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself -"

They realized at the same time that they'd gotten ever closer to each other as they'd argued. Their faces were only a scant few inches apart. Yosuke stared right into Yu's eyes, eyebrows narrowed, not saying a word. Yu stared right back. The silence was only about a second long, but it felt like forever.

And then Yosuke closed his eyes, leaned in, and pressed his lips onto Yu's, slowly, but softly, in a way Yu wouldn't have expected after everything that had just happened between them. Out of all the things he imagined would come out of last night, this was the absolute farthest from it.

But in the end, Yu didn't exactly mind.

It only lasted for a few seconds, ten at most, but it felt like so much longer and lasted so much longer than that, even after it ended. It was almost like the two of them now understood things they never did before, never would have. It was almost surreal.

When Yosuke finally pulled away, his cheeks were completely red, his eyes wide. "Holy shit, I'm sorry!" He looked down at the ground. "I didn't mean to do that. I really didn't. I really fucking didn't."

"I know." Yu thought it wasn't wise to say any more.

"Damn, I'm such an idiot." Yosuke sighed. "Now you'll probably never want to talk to me again and – damn, I messed this whole thing up. I'm so sorry, man. That was so uncalled for."

Yu decided to not make Yosuke feel more uncomfortable than he needed to and got on to the point of this entire conversation.

"So did we make up?"

Yosuke took a little time to think before nodding. "Yeah. I mean, it'll take a little longer for all that to be really over, but between you and me, definitely." He looked away. "Well, mostly. Dammit."

"Good. I was getting tired of seeing you moping around all the time."

Yosuke chuckled. "Yeah, that isn't really like me, I guess."

Yu smiled. Now, this was the Yosuke he'd gotten to know over the past seven months. That was a relief.

"Hey," Yosuke said, "Thanks. You really knocked some sense into me, dude."

"You're welcome. I'm glad we could get over this."

Yosuke let out the breath he'd seemed like he'd been holding since everything started last night. "Yeah. Me, too."


End file.
